Wednesday, 27 May 2015

Ferguson and incentive-based policy

Ferguson’s law enforcement practices are shaped by the City’s focus on revenue rather
than by public safety needs. This emphasis on revenue has compromised the institutional
character of Ferguson’s police department, contributing to a pattern of unconstitutional policing,
and has also shaped its municipal court, leading to procedures that raise due process concerns
and inflict unnecessary harm on members of the Ferguson community...

The City budgets for sizeable increases in municipal fines and fees each year, exhorts
police and court staff to deliver those revenue increases, and closely monitors whether those
increases are achieved. City officials routinely urge Chief Jackson to generate more revenue
through enforcement....

Officer
evaluations and promotions depend to an inordinate degree on “productivity,” meaning the
number of citations issued. Partly as a consequence of City and FPD priorities, many officers
appear to see some residents, especially those who live in Ferguson’s predominantly African-American neighborhoods, less as constituents to be protected than as potential offenders and
sources of revenue.